[Positive effect of ursodeoxycholic acid on liver enzymes in autoimmune hepatitis with little activity--a pilot study].

In a pilot study we investigated the effect of ursodeoxycholic acid therapy in 11 patients (mean age 45.8 +/- 13.2 years) with chronic active, ANA- and/or SMA-positive autoimmune hepatitis of moderate severity. All patients were clinical asymptomatic and no indication for immunosuppressive therapy could be established in any patient. After a washout period of at least 3 months, the treatment was administrated with 500 mg ursodeoxycholic acid twice daily. A statistically significant improvement in all important hepatic parameters was achieved within 3 months of therapy. No further improvement could be observed once 6 months had elapsed. Significant decreases of SGOT (29.9 +/- 20.2 vs 17.7 +/- 7.1 U/l, p = 0.020), SGPT (43.8 +/- 31.0 vs. 19.6 +/- 6.7 U/l, p = 0.0012), GLDH (20.1 +/- 20.9 vs. 5.2 +/- 2.6 U/l, p = 0.0001) und gamma-GT (152.0 +/- 124.8 vs. 60.6 +/- 49.2 U/l, p = 0.0064) were observed during treatment. Despite tendential improvement, serum biliruhin, levels (18.2 +/- 9.4 vs. 16.9 +/- 9.4 mumol/l, p = 0.287) did not change significantly during treatment. Ursodeoxycholic acid may be beneficial in altering the natural course of chronic active hepatitis and of value in preventing mild attacks of immune hepatitis. The simple fact that ursodeoxycholic acid administration is essentially free of side-effects can go a long way towards justifying further clinically controlled studies.